The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) is the oldest political foundation in Germany with a rich tradition in social democracy dating back to its foundation in 1925. The foundation owes its formation and its mission to the political legacy of its namesake Friedrich Ebert, the first democratically elected German President.
The work of our political foundation focuses on the core ideas and values of social democracy – freedom, justice and solidarity. This connects us to social democracy and free trade unions. As a non-profit institution, we organise our work autonomously and independently.
We promote
We support and strengthen social democracy in particular by means of:
A total of 595 employees in the offices in Bonn and the sixteen State and regional offices and abroad (2018).
Approx. 194.6 million Euro, mainly public funding (2018).
In Germany alone more than 140,000 persons took part in educational courses, discussion forums and special-subject conferences (2018).
Activities in 107 countries (2018).
2,876 students received a scholarship, 286 of them from abroad (2018).
Largest specialized library on the German and international labour movement with over 1.000.000 volumes. Largest collection of documents on the history of the labour movement in Germany.
Friedrich Ebert served from 1919 to 1925 as the first President of the Weimar Republic. He advocated the development of parliamentary democracy, viewed himself as the president of all Germans, and was committed to a politics geared to social balance and compromise. In his will, he specified that the proceeds from donations at his funeral should be used to create a foundation. The main concern of FES from then on was to work against discrimination of workers in the area of education.
Godesberger Allee 149
D-53175 Bonn